


It's Not the End of the Line, Not for a Long Time

by shou



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Flowers, Fluff, M/M, Post-Captain America: The Winter Soldier, bucky's return, narration
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-01-02
Updated: 2015-01-02
Packaged: 2018-03-04 22:35:50
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,483
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3094289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shou/pseuds/shou
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone leaves flowers addressed to James Barnes at the SHIELD Wall of Valor.<br/>Captain America disappears for a bit, then comes back and holds a public press conference.<br/>And everybody at SHIELD is curious.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's Not the End of the Line, Not for a Long Time

**Author's Note:**

> I was watching Agents of SHIELD and there was the bit where Skye's looking at the SHIELD Wall of Valor and she sees Bucky's name and the next day this idea popped in my head and I had to write it. It's not edited by anyone and I'm tired, so I'm sorry for any mistakes 
> 
> BLAISE: THIS BE FOR YOU. HEART EYES TO YOU AND HUGS FROM ME 
> 
> Disclaimer: If only I owned these characters. If only.

The thing about SHIELD is that it’s all very secretive. Level Fives don’t get to know what Level Sixes do, and Level Ones know practically nothing, at least not compared to Level Eights. But something that almost nobody knows is the secret behind the flowers left by the Wall of Valor every single day.  
SHIELD doesn’t let just anybody in there, so it’s not a grieving mother or husband or sister. It’s a SHIELD agent. Who was alive in the 1940s. Because those flowers are always addressed to someone: Sergeant James Barnes. The name is always attached somewhere with a navy blue ribbon, and always in print. Black, simple, on stiff white paper. Pre printed. The flowers are always simple. Never big bouquets, but more like something a teenager might buy. Anemones, chrysanthemums, asters, dahlias, those kinds of flowers. And once a week, a red rose among those flowers.  
Everybody always wonders about the flowers. Is it someone who actually knew Barnes personally? Is it just a fan? Everybody knows of James Barnes. But very few people are still alive that met him.  
There are some people who know who it is, however. Agent Coulson. Director Fury. Agents Romanoff and Barton. Tony Stark. Doctor Banner. Commander Hill. These few know exactly who puts those flowers there. But they let everyone speculate. After all, it’s not their secret to reveal. 

And then it turns out Hydra is inside of SHIELD, and everything goes haywire. And the flowers stop appearing.  
It settles down, but SHIELD is in chaos. It takes Agent Coulson three weeks just to contact everybody trustworthy. (The Avengers all yell at him for dying and not telling them he came back, and then hug him.)  
The flowers don’t reappear.  
And with them goes Captain America.  
There was a rumor that he was killed, but Agent Romanoff and the new guy, Sam Wilson, tell everybody that he’s fine. Captain America just needs to go find something. After telling everybody that, Wilson disappears as well. Romanoff does too, but that happens all the time, so nobody thinks about it. 

Everybody hears about the mysterious destruction of every Hydra base, and multiple SHIELD bases as well.  
Everybody hears about the ghost leaving nearly untraceable foot prints across America, Europe, Russia, Africa. Everywhere.  
Everybody hears about the possible sightings of two people who looks a hell of a lot like Agents Rogers and Wilson. (Everybody also assumes Wilson’s part of SHIELD now. Those who don’t… Well. They just stay quiet and sulk.) 

It’s a full nine months before Captain America reappears. Well, sort of. He’s back on the radar, but he stays low. He's rarely seen, and in the few sightings caught on camera by the paparazzi, he's always with another person. A man. With long, dark hair, who always wears long sleeves and a glove on his left hand.  
But the flowers don't come back. 

Three months later, the Avengers announce a public press conference. 

 

“Where is Captain America?”  
“Wasn’t he the one to call this conference up?”  
“Did Captain America die?”  
“Was Agent Romanoff lying when she said he survived?” 

Everybody sighed. Literally, the entire team gave one collected huff. Tony was slouched in his chair, feet in Bruce’s lap. Bruce was glaring at Tony, holding two coffees. Tony was grinning. Natasha and Clint were playing toss with a knife. Thor was balancing his hammer on the back of his hand. Sam, because yes, he’s an Avenger now, was grinning like he knew something everyone else didn’t. The Avengers might be great at saving the world, but when it comes to waiting… Long explanation short, they sucked. The chair labeled Cap was empty, as well as a mysterious chair next to his.  
The entire room hushed when Agent Coulson stepped up onto the stage and to the mike.  
“We called you here today to announce something quite extraordinary. I even flew in on my bus all the way from Spain to be here. Today is the day a hero returns to us. Today is the day we welcome… Sergeant James Barnes!” he stood back, sweeping his arm in a ‘look what we have here’ kind of gesture. (Only those closest to Coulson heard him whisper to an agent next to him “I practiced that. In front of a mirror.”)

And there, walking up the stairs with Captain America, was a man most people thought dead. He looked a little older, with lines around his mouth and eyes that hadn’t been there in the old days. He had on a dark blue jacket with a red collar, that made all the die hard Captain America and Bucky Barnes fans squeal with glee. His pants were dark red, his hair long but tied back, and when he turned, revealing his left side, the entire room fell dead quiet.  
Instead of a sleeve, the left arm of his jacket was gone, revealing bright, shiny silver. His entire left arm was metal, hard and cold. And on his shoulder was the red, white, and blue of Captain America’s shield. 

“Actually, Coulson, you can call me Bucky.”  
You’d expect the crowd to erupt. They didn’t. You could’ve dropped a feather and you’d have heard it land.  
“Yes, that’s right. Bucky Barnes is back, here to save Captain America’s ass when he gets over his head in trouble.”  
In the silence, everybody could hear the quiet “Really, Buck? I’m big now, don’t need no saving.”  
“You here that? This guy here,” Bucky reached back, pulling Captain America, Steve, forward and let his arm slip down around his waist. “Thinks he can stay out of trouble. But let me tell you,” here Bucky leaned forward, cupping his hand and fake-whispering to the mike, “He sucks at it.”  
The crowd finally made a noise, collectively bursting into laughter.  
“I told you. I’ve done just fine on my own without you to save me every time.”  
“Uh huh. Big talk for someone I pulled out of a lake.”  
“I was unconscious!”  
“Hence the pulling done by me, dummy.” 

Steve and Bucky bickered back and forth for a few more minutes, before finally they started explaining. They explained how Hydra had taken Bucky, putting things in his head so terrible that Bucky himself shut down. Put up walls. Hydra put up more walls, and then put in new thoughts. New goals. Called him ‘The Winter Soldier’. And Bucky Barnes was shut back. Stuck behind too many walls, too strong for him to break down. They explained how Steve and recognised him when the Winter Soldier was sent to kill him. Bucky explained how Steve had reached out to him when both were at their weakest, and how Steve had broken those walls. Just a crack, but enough for Bucky to get a grip. Steve told of how Bucky had disappeared, and how he’d gone after him, chasing Bucky from Hydra base to Hydra base, all across the globe. Sam cut in saying he helped too, and both Bucky and Steve both smiled at and thanked him, which made Sam grin again and sit back looking smug. Bucky explained how he started remembering. They both got quiet, but explained how Bucky had finally found Steve himself, and how he’d said “I wanna go home, Stevie.” The rest of the story was short. Bucky needed healing time, so Steve gave it to him. But they hadn’t left each other. Not ever.  
They smiled at each other as the entire room exploded in thunderous applause, all wiping their eyes and smiling.  
Only the ones trained in how to read people saw both Bucky’s and Steve’s lips forming silent words.  
“I’m with you till the end of the line.” 

 

It took only a week for the media to move on. Some celebrity gained for pounds and couldn’t fit into her wedding dress. But SHIELD took a lot longer to quiet down.  
There’s also the fact that Barnes and Rogers were never, ever seen apart. They were always together, giving each other little looks, and staying just an inch closer than normal people would.  
It was a month after the press conference that someone brought up the flowers left by the Wall of Valor and addressed to Bucky.  
Steve’s reaction was to ignore them. (Them being Agent Romanoff.)  
Bucky’s reaction was something along the lines of “A red rose every week.” “Yes.” (That was from Romanoff as well.) “And I’m only hearing this NOW?!” And then promptly yanking Steve forward by his star spangled uniform and kissing him squarely on the mouth. The only one not blushing was Romanoff. She was smirking.  
But now there’s always a different thing by the SHIELD Wall of Valor. It’s post-it note. Usually blue or red or white, stuck next to James Barnes’ name.

“Death can’t get me yet. After all, it’s not the end of the line, not for a long time.”


End file.
